


i’ll always be pining for you

by teddy_the_bear03



Category: Stardew Valley
Genre: Christmas Tree, Gen, NB Farmer, Snow, Soft!, holiday fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:53:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21956947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teddy_the_bear03/pseuds/teddy_the_bear03
Summary: The farmer and their husband, Sebastian, go out to find and cut down a Christmas tree. Their plans are foiled, and they must make do.Holiday fic for my good friend Clay!
Relationships: Farmer/Sebastian
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	i’ll always be pining for you

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy this, Clay! It was so, so much fun to write and I loved it even more knowing it was going to you. I hope you have an amazing holiday and new year!

God, this thing was heavy.

And that was saying something; normally, they could carry a decent load, able to sweep through fields of wheat with their scythe like it was nobody’s business, but the cold on top of the long trek was sinking into their bones and making them sluggish. Beside them walked their husband, Sebastian, whose hair had been turned a spotty white due to the still falling snowflakes, and whose nose had turned a bright shade of red. He wore a worn-in, black trench coat, gloved hands pushed deep into his pockets, and his soft whistling keeps up their pace. When Clay makes a particularly pained noise, shoulder aching by the weight of the tool, he turns to them with a gentle smile.

“Do you need help, honey?” He asks, already knowing the answer, and chuckles when Clay harrumphs and sticks out their lower lip in a pout.

“Nope, I’m doing just fine!” They reply, straining a little on the last syllable when their axe threatens to fall off their back, and they brush off the worried glance Sebastian gives. “Really, I promise,” they reassure, gesturing to the land in front of them, “and we’re almost there anyway!”

That, Sebastian couldn’t protest against - their walk slows to a stroll as they enter Marnie’s ranch, admiring the winter wonderland around them. At least a foot of snow lay on the ground, their footprints crunching and leaving a trail into the woods as they trudged in their waterproof boots, and treetops of evergreens shake and sprinkle snow down onto them as a gentle breeze whistles through. The sky is a shade of slate grey, precipitation still falling, and owls burrow into their nests as they try to shield themselves from the bitter cold.

Clay examines the trees with vigor, enthralled by the weather and the result of the icy bliss. Oak and maple stand barren against the white landscape, stripped of their autumn-dyed leaves, while pines stand tall with their coated green needles. The forest is beautiful this time of year, and the farmer unhooks one hand from the handle to sneak it into Sebastian’s pocket and lace their fingers together. The man splutters, face going even redder than before, and refuses to meet Clay’s eyes out of bashfulness - and this seems to pay off, dark, searching eyes scanning the woods until they land on a beautiful baby evergreen, stuck in its small state until springtime came once more.

“Look…” Sebastian whisper-shouts, pointing toward it with the hand still laced with Clay’s, and the farmer double-takes (holy hell I’m holding hands with him holy hell I’m  _ married _ to him) before noticing it as well and cooing happily, both of them bustling toward it to examine it further. It’s not taller than four feet, its branches more like firmly attached twigs, and Sebastian brushes the snow from its bristles as Clay checks around its base for any small, hibernating animals (bunnies, squirrels) - they’d never want to harm anyone’s home, no matter how tiny they were.

“Think this is the one?” He asks, patting the collected icy residue from his hands onto his jeans, and the farmer makes an affirmative noise, sitting back up on their knees. They’re so cute, Sebastian can’t help but lean down and give Clay a peck on the nose, making them flush and titter softly.

“We got lucky,” they begin, standing up and stretching, “it seems to be a coniferous, which can grow to be fifteen feet tall! They aren’t super dependent on water, but we might need to put it in some just in case… It’s really a beauty,” they murmur happily, and blush brightly when Sebastian swoons into their shoulder.

“Thank you for telling me,” he replies earnestly, kissing their cheek, and Clay exclaims an embarrassed “you’ll get stuck!” before playfully pushing him away. Sebastian sticks his tongue out, smiling, and Clay is so warm, they can no longer complain about the cold. “Maybe we could rig up my motorcycle, and-”

He’s cut off by Clay, who’s laughing bemusedly. “You really want to ride her, huh?”   
  


Sebastian throws his hands up in a “duh” gesture. “Of course, she’s my baby!”

Clay shakes their head, kissing the other quickly. “It would get stuck, Seb…”

The man pretends to sulk, but smooches Clay back just as fast. “I know,” he says, faux-dramatically, “but one can dreaaaam.”

They both laugh, the farmer admiring how perfect the other’s features looked in the wintry glow of the forest, before they returned to their miniature tree. Clay sizes it up one more time, Sebastian quirking an eyebrow at them, and nods brightly as they swing their axe from their shoulder and to the white ground with an audible thud and indentation, exposing the frozen brown dirt underneath. They lift the axe, ready to strike the first blow, when they falter, realizing how much of a hypocrite they’d be.

Not three minutes ago, they were searching for any animals in case they would be harmed in the crashing of the tree when it fell - but now, here they were, about to end the life of a tree, and all for what? To have a little Christmas cheer for two weeks, only to have its needles brown and its bark rot next to their outdoor trash bin?

Clay frowns, letting the axe tumble to earth once more, and their husband fixes them with a questioning look. “What’s wrong, honey? Too heavy?”

“No, I just, I can’t…” Their voice breaks, surprised to feel tears stinging their crystal blue eyes, and Sebastian recognizes this, face softening and arms opening to embrace the farmer slowly. They shudder into his coat, crying quietly, and he rubs their back with a soothing gloved hand.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, breathe,” he comforts, voice as relaxing and perfect as the melting of peppermint in a steaming, curling mug of hot cocoa, “we don’t have to do this now, we have all season.”

“But I do want to,” they whimper, muffled and barely audible due to the thick wool of Sebastian’s coat, “I just don’t want to cut it down.”

They feel Sebastian nod, his black painted fingernails rhythmically tapping against their back, and there is a few beats of silence before he taps twice, pulling away just enough so that Clay could meet his eyes and still feel his warm breath on their pink-tinged cheeks. “You know what we can do?”

They respond with a shaky “hm?”, picking anxiously at the loose threads of the gloves they wore. “We could rig up some power cables from Marnie’s place, and get some shatterproof ornaments, and… decorate it without having to harm it at all.”

Clay looks up, shock and excitement now dancing across their rosy, freckled features, and wraps the other in a much quicker, more powerful hug. “Yes, yes, absolutely, yes!” They cheer, reeling backward, and they zip around the tree as their mind goes a mile a minute. “We could have high battery, low consumption lights, so they won’t burn out easily, and ornaments that can withstand the weather, because gosh it gets cold! And…”

They continue talking animatedly, running to and fro faster than the man had originally thought possible, and he picks up the axe to rest his elbow on as he watched, endeared. There was method to Clay’s madness, and there was little he enjoyed more than to enable them and see their (albeit sometimes very ambitious) ideas unfold.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Clay stands in the kitchen, using a potato peeler to shave off chunks of chocolate from a cylinder they’d bought from Pierre’s (for a price too high, but they supposed that’s what they got for purchasing an item from the tropics in such a small town.) The room around them is bathed in warm tones - the oil lamp that hung over the sink emits a soft, sepia light, and the green aloe plants that sit on the windowsill curl toward the low winter sun. A pot of warm milk sits on the stove, simmering, and Clay makes quick work of taking the bits and stirring them into the pan. 

While they work on the hot chocolate, humming an unnamed tune, Sebastian sneaks up behind them, already clad in his winter gear, and wraps his arms around their waist. They jump a little, letting out a surprised squeak before reaching up with their free hand to cup their husband’s jaw, stroking the soft stubble that he hadn’t bothered to shave that morning.

“It’s almost done,” they say breathily, feeling Seb nod against them, and their chest aches with longing when he pulls away, offering a kiss to the nape of their neck as an unspoken apology.

“Sounds good,” he replies, picking up his grey knit hat (bedazzled with a pompom, courtesy of Clay’s mediocre-at-best sewing skills) and adjusting it onto his head, blowing his black fringe out of his eyes to no avail. “I’ll be out in the shed, packing everything up,” he informs, winking at the farmer, “I’ll come back when it’s all ready.”

Clay gives him an effervescent smile - one that made the room seem that much brighter. “Only if you let me pull the wagon,” they tease, and Sebastian rolls his eyes.

“Fine,” he chuckles, blowing another peck to Clay before opening the screen door and stepping out into the algid weather. They watch him go, heart fluttering with admiration, when a loud hiss interrupts their daydreaming; they curse, quickly grabbing the rag from the oven handle and sops up the escaped milk.

Seeming it warm enough (and chocolatey enough), they take it from the lick of flame, pouring it with a little less precision then they cared to admit into two thermoses - each decorated with hand-painted stars and planets. Sprinkling in a few more flakes into Sebastian’s (they way they knew he liked it best), they rush to the coat rack, shucking on their own and wrapping their purple scarf around their neck before tucking both thermoses under their arm and bustling to the porch, letting the frigid air hit their uncovered face. They jog a few paces to the shed, boots crunching through the snow to the stone pathway that it hid, and smiles when they see Sebastian trying in vain to lift the ornament box into the wagon they’d borrowed from Jas; which took a lot of convincing and reassuring that it would come back in one piece and that no, Mr. Seb wouldn’t take it apart like his motorcycle.

“Having trouble?” Clay says craftily, and he looks up, surprised to see them standing there.

“Yeah, maybe a little,” he laughs, unfastening his fingers from the handles to shrug his shoulders in an  _ I give up _ kind of gesture. Clay doesn’t hesitate, handing their husband the cups (which he greedily sips from until he burns his tongue) as they lean down to grab it, lifting it with ease into its corresponding carriage, and a tiny groan from Sebastian (who found their strength to be stupidly attractive) makes them smile coyly.

“Like what you see?”

“Of course,” he replies earnestly, and it’s Clay’s turn to blush, waving off the honesty with an ungloved hand.

“You’re too sweet,” they chide, secretly pleased, and begin to pull the wagon as they start their frosty trek to the woods once more - it’s no longer snowing from the sky, but it’s residue remains, lingering in shades of periwinkle and alabaster on the rooftops of sheds and on top of fence rails. Clay is so absorbed that they do not notice Sebastian’s staring until a few seconds after it begins, causing them to look at him sheepishly.

“Is there something on my face?” They tease, and Seb merely shakes his head.

“No, I just…” he hesitates, fine-tuning his words, “I don’t know how you’re not wearing gloves or a hat, honey.”

Clay thinks for a beat, and then a shit-eating grin spreads across their face. “Is it ‘cause I’m so hot?”

Sebastian lets out a very loud  _ “pfft!” _ , muffling his laughter in the fabric of Clay’s coat while they watch delightedly. His smile is infectious, and soon they’re both tittering at the farmer’s flirtatious remarks.

“You’re insufferable,” Sebastian finally manages out, kissing their cheek amiably, and he wraps his hand around the wagon handle and subsequently Clay’s fingers. They squeeze, giving each other a private smile before swigging from their cups and continuing.

They don’t say much, Clay having to usher Starla (a beautiful mother hen) back into her coop with ruffled feathers, and both are content with the warmth in their hands and chests as they enter Marnie’s ranch. Sebastian unlaces their fingers and hurries back, grabbing the multicolored lights (and thick power cable that corresponded with it) before scurrying off to Marnie’s house, sliding on his knees into the snow right in front of the covered power outlet on the outside of the house. Clay watches him for a moment, amused at him trying to flip it up with his inaccurate, wooly hands, and then proceeds to wind their way through the forest to the small tree that had captured both of their hearts.

Looking back once to see if Sebastian was following (they didn’t see him there), they flip open the lid to the ornament case - shiny reds and greens and golds glimmer in the afternoon sunlight, beautiful and aglow as Clay takes them out one by one, examining them for any smudges. Once they deemed the ornament good enough, they hung it on one of the branches, not bothering to brush the snow off of its needles - they thought it was prettier that way, all natural and untouched.

They take their time, hanging them one by one - their silver hooks glistening with the cold as they sway and clink together in the every-so-often biting breeze. Once they’re done with the ornaments, they move onto the candy canes, unwrapping them and hanging them upon higher branches in case a wandering bird or mammal decided to snack upon it. They twinkle in hues of red and white, purple and green, and pink and blue - each a different flavor and making the tree seem even more lively from afar.

As they finish up, one hook sticking out of their mouth (how could they resist just a little nibble?), Sebastian comes scurrying through the woods, wires and power cables spinning out of his hands and into the snow. He rushes to them, giving them an out-of-breath smile and kissing their chin chastely before reaching upward, letting go of the lights now in the queue.

With unrivaled precision, he makes circles around the tree, the lights multicolored and while not totally visible, still beautiful in the contrast of white and dark green that surrounded it. They blink and shine off of the ornaments, a few late birds who’d never bothered to travel south chirping above them, and Clay can’t help but lace their fingers together as they step back to admire their work.

The tree is adorned to its full capacity, radiating the pure essence of the holiday season. The forest croons around it, bending and melting, and a sign of relief (and wonder) leaves both of their chapped, slightly parted lips. It’s gorgeous, they’re gorgeous, and they couldn’t be prouder.

“Do you like it?” Sebastian asks, quirking an eyebrow, and they only nod slowly.

“I do,” they murmur, “so much. I’m glad we did this.”

Sebastian squeezes, eyes swiveling over the tree once more as the warmth in his hands radiate and set his entire being to a temperature more than nice.

“Me  _ too _ .”


End file.
